For the last 22 years (13 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 23rd annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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For full team breakdowns, projections, category-specific options, and a whole lot more, pick up a copy of the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide today! It will be updated all through the offseason and training camps, and is available now in the Dobber Shop.

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Gone: Curtis Lazar, Tomas Tatar, Erik Haula, Nolan Foote, Shane Bowers, Brian Dumoulin, Justin Dowling

Incoming: Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, Thomas Bordeleau, Angus Crookshank

Impact of Changes: New Jersey has completely overhauled its forward depth. They added Cody Glass at the Trade Deadline in March, shed five forwards this offseason, and brought in four forwards. This is a necessary change as the team was outscored by a whopping 27 goals at 5-on-5 (per Natural Stat Trick) without their top four forwards on the ice (Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier). In 2023-24, they were outscored by just two goals with those four players off the ice at 5-on-5.

While it is a complete overhaul of the third and fourth lines, it is very much up in the air how much will actually change. Brown had a big rebound season in 2024-25 but turns 32 years old in January so age-related decline is always a concern. Dadonov is 36 years old and was very marginal in Dallas recently. Bordeleau and Crookshank likely start the year in the AHL, and the hope is one of them can turn into an effective bottom-6 contributor later in the season, or in 2026-27. This isn't Tampa Bay getting Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand or even Vegas adding Reilly Smith and Brandon Saad. The impact won't mean much for fantasy values of key skaters, but as long as the Devils additions help the team improve on that minus-27 goal differential with their top forwards off the ice, it’s a boost for the goaltenders.

Ready for Full Time: Arseni Gritsyuk, Seamus Casey

Whether the 2025 offseason was a success for the Devils will be determined by Gritsyuk's effectiveness after signing a one-year entry-level deal. Over the last four seasons, he's first in goals per game and second in points per game among KHL forwards under the age of 25, and if he can hit the ground running like Maxim Tsyplakov did last year, it allows the Devils to move Ondrej Palat out of the top-6 and lengthens the lineup. If he can't, it's just one more hole in the lineup they have to plug at some point.

New Jersey may be a team that uses an 11-forward/7-defenceman lineup often this season due to the lack of forward depth and that both Casey and Simon Nemec are in line for a regular NHL role. Casey looked great in his brief NHL tenure in 2024-25, posting eight points in 14 games while having a plus-4 goal differential at 5-on-5. He also registered 18 points in 30 AHL games. If the Devils do carry eight defencemen, he will be a healthy scratch at times, but if he keeps building off a successful first pro year, he should be in the lineup more than the press box.

Fantasy Outlook: The 2024-25 Devils were dogged by injuries: their blue line alone saw Brett Pesce, Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler all missed at least 10 games and average 16.5 games missed. When two-thirds of the blue line averages 20% of the season out of the lineup, it hurts the entire roster. That doesn't even get into Jack Hughes missing 20 games and the playoffs with another shoulder injury. Hughes and their defencemen staying in the lineup will have a bigger impact than any signing, trade, or prospect.

Even with all those injuries, New Jersey still had the third-best power play by goals per minute in 2024-25, Bratt had a career year with 88 points, Hischier had a career year with 35 goals, and Hughes had an 82-game pace exceeding 35 goals and 90 points for the fourth straight campaign. If the lineup can remain healthy and the young defencemen keep improving, this can easily be a top-5 scoring team in the league. Jack Hughes can be a top-10 fantasy forward, Hamilton can be a top-10 fantasy defenceman, Bratt and Meier can be top-50 forwards, and Hischier can be a top-75 option. There is tremendous upside here.

Hamilton was the top PP defenceman when he was healthy, but he has just 84 games played over the last two seasons. Luke Hughes is knocking on the door so while preference should be given to Hamilton right now, that situation can turn on a dime. Both are 40-point options regardless of PP role, but surpassing 50 points will depend on who gets those prime PP minutes.

Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen are an aging pair – the former is 36 years old in January and the latter turned 35 years old earlier this month – but both were good-to-great in a tough situation last season. In fact, Allen's run from January-March saved the Devils from missing the playoffs. While Markströmis the starter, they may try to keep is workload modest and turn 30-35 starts over to Allen, assuming he keeps up his stellar play. Even with all the injuries last year, the Devils were a fringe top-10 team defensively. They can be even better in 2025-26 and that, along with a more 1A/1B starter situation, would give them two viable fantasy goalies.

Fantasy Grade: A (last year was A)

*For the rest of the Offseason Fantasy Grades series, just click here.